Ethereal vs Nessus

Ethereal

Description: Ethereal is a free and open-source packet analyzer and network protocol analyzer software for Unix-like operating systems. It allows users to examine data from a live network or from a capture file on disk. Ethereal has powerful features to inspect hundreds of protocols, and provides the ability to reconstruct TCP sessions and browse data as it presents itself on the wire.

Type: software

Pricing: Open Source

Nessus

Description: Nessus is a vulnerability scanner used to scan networks and systems for security vulnerabilities. It is one of the most popular vulnerability assessment tools.

Type: software

Ethereal Features

• Packet capture and real-time network traffic analysis
• Powerful display filters for analyzing captured data
• Protocol dissection of hundreds of protocols
• TCP reassembly and stream following
• VoIP analysis and RTP streams playback
• Supports common capture file formats like pcap and pcapng
• Extensible via plugins and dissectors

Nessus Features

• Vulnerability scanning
• Compliance auditing
• Web application scanning
• Malware detection
• Configuration auditing

Ethereal

• Open Source

Nessus

• Not listed